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Tuesday, November 27, 2007

In Philadelphia, another injurred player is taken off the ice

The bad blood between the Bruins and Flyers apparently won't be ending anytime soon, this after yet another dangerous hit resulted in yet another Boston player to be helped from the ice, not to return to action on Monday night.

At 14:22 of the second period, the Flyers Scott Hartnell elbowed the Bruins Andrew Alberts into the boards near centre ice, a location where Alberts would lay on the ice for minutes before being eventually lifted to his feet and escorted to the locker room for evaluation.

As a result of the elbowing incident, Hartnell was assessed a boarding major and a game misconduct.

It's the latest in high profile incidents involving the Flyers, the second one of which has claimed a Bruin in less than a month. The Bruins Patrice Bergeron was hammered to the boards face-first by Flyersdefenceman Randy Jones and suffered a concussion at the time, he has yet to return to action and there is some fear that his problems may be long lasting and potentially career ending.

The Flyers made news at the start of the season after successive incidents in Ottawa and Vancouver, which resulted in lengthy suspensions.

The latest incident on Monday night will once again raise questions about the style of play of the Flyers and whether further sanctions may be required against management over the frequently controversial incidents.

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The Philadelphia Inquirer posted a quote from Colin Campbell providing a terse no comment as his reply to any further potential action against the Flyers. Asked last night whether the league will consider addressing a pattern to the Flyers' violence, Colin Campbell, the NHL's director of hockey operations and league disciplinarian, replied: "No comment."